It’s insanely important to complete your first drafts with reckless confidence. Then, with enough emotional distance, critique it like an expert reader.
I am reading Eragon again. I want to confirm if my positive opinion from middle school is justified. So far, it doesn’t hold up but I have gained some new reflections on writing.
Critiquing is Easy as a Reader — Rewriting is Easy.
Its no secret that I esteem character as the soul of story but I often have difficulty bringing that soul to my novels.
The first draft contains thousands of errors. There are characters with conflicting motivation form one point of the novel to the other without cause. Dialogue is clunky, cliche, and expository. Character emotion is spastic and only serves the plot. Backstory is weak summarized. Body acting and ticks are unresolved and inconsistent.
If I went back right now to correct everything, it would slow down the process to a grinding and painful halt. Killing all the writing vigor. The live edit wouldn’t solve the problems anyway, the next chapter would inspire new ideas for the character which would have to be incorporated from page one. Over and over, the cycle would continue. This is an exercise in futility.
How does Eragon, particularly the character Brom all fit into this?
In the chapter, ‘A Costly Mistake’ the character Brom is talking to Helen.
| [said Brom] “Thank you for your hospitality; it was most gracious.” Her [Helen’s] face reddened. Eragon thought she was going to slap him. Brom continued, unperturbed, “You have a good husband; take care of him. There are few men as brave and as determined as he is. But even he cannot weather difficult times without support from those he loves.” He bowed gain and said gently, “Only a suggestion, dear lady.” |
Throughout the story Brom is paraded as a wise, direct, and savvy man who confronts challenges head on. But moments like this kill that illusion. The part where he says, ‘Only a suggestion, dear lady.’ is completely out of character with a wise and direct man. Only men who doubt what they say or cannot take criticism bank what they say with platitudes. He sounds more like a vain-glorious thirty something who has just met a woman for the first time in his life.
This isn’t the only example. Throughout the entire book Brom does act like a wise mentor. Instead, he acts like a bravado cloying wannabe. Two reasons for this error. Little research was done into great men from history. There are plenty of resources to learn how those ‘with a complete belly’ talk. Second, the mistakes weren’t edited out properly. Nobody had the guts to tell Paolini his sixteen year old idea of how men talk is half-baked.
But, and here’s the magic, it wasn’t an error while he was writing.
It is easy for me to locate mistakes in Brom’s character as a reader. If I can bring the same focus to editing my own book, I know for certain the Charles, Jessica, Mateo, Terrance, and Gabby (The main cast of Galaxy-farm) will have strong and contrasting characters.
As such, I am preparing myself for the third stage of the writing battle. Ruthless editing. If something is wrong with a character I need to cut it out immediately. I will surround myself with beta-readers who won’t spare my feelings. Or better yet, readers who hate me. I wish I had more enemies.
Now, to be fair to Paolini. Later in the chapter he does some things I love. Namely, he hurts his main character. I don’t like invincible characters, they are impossible to emphasize with. And he dispels the notion the ‘good side’ (The Varden) from being perfectly good. They have selfish desires and will use Eragon for their own goals. Those are the reasons I am still reading Eragon, I look forward to future conflict.
Embracing Imperfection Breeds Success
Eragon sold a lot of copies.
I still remember seeing piles of Inheritance being stacked one on top of each other in man height columns.
So what if Brom is a caricature of a wise mentor, so what if Saphira is a reptilian dominatrix maid sex-fantasy, and so what if Eragon is a shadow of Aragon from Lord of the Rings.
Eragon’s got morally grey friends. It’s got magic. It’s got struggle. And it’s got heart.
Follow Paolini’s lead — embrace reckless confidence with what you write. Fear tells us what we must do. Haters’s insults are badges of honor.
Editing comes after the first draft is done.
That’s all.
Temple of the Seven Silver Seas 